Roman History Books and More

a little background to the "republic of vengeance," our book chat on wednesday

Titus Quintius Flamininus and Philip V of Macedon are major players in the latter part of
The Republic of Vengeance by Paul Waters.

Here is some online background:

• Plutarch • Life of Flamininus
• Philip V at livius.org
• The Fetters of Greece and Philip V of Macedon - Ancient Life

upcoming book chat: plutarch's 'moralia'

First my apologies: I never got around to posting selections, so the last chat was poorly attended and we called it a night soon. Between sciatic pain, physical therapy, and home renovation, some things simply fell through the cracks. :(

Our next chat will be next Wednesday, March 21.

First, a note to Plutarch's Moralia online at the Liberty Fund: If you click on the individual volumes, you find various download options, including book format. There is a special download for Kindle, and people using iBooks or Nook can use the e-pub downloads. I downloaded them on iBooks, and Beverly tested them on the Nook.

My first recommendations are

• Ralph Waldo Emerson's introduction to the above "Moralia" in Volume 1.
• OF ISIS AND OSIRIS, OR OF THE ANCIENT RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY OF EGYPT (Volume 4). This can also be read at LacusCurtius.

This will take up quite a bit of the chat time, I suppose. Between today and Saturday, I will do some extensive reading and post suggestions of some of the smaller pieces.

Recommendations are appreciated!

And let's put another session on next year's calendar.

Stay tuned!

looking ahead to 'tiberius caesar' by g.p. baker (july 6 & 20)

As we are getting ready to discuss Tiberius Caesar by G.P. Baker, I have been looking for free eBooks. I found two:

• at Scribd. Can be downloaded to your computer two ways, via Facebook or by setting up an account if you haven't done so; and
• at the Internet Archive on the Daisy reader.  I'm not sure how it works, but it seems to be audio cum text, and there are also iPad applications. I will try the latter soon myself.

You can also purchase it as Google eBook from your Indie Bookseller.

Ancient historiography

• Tacitus at Sacred Texts and at Perseus
• Cassius Dio at LacusCurtius (Bill Thayer)
• Suetonius at LacusCurtius (Bill Thayer)
• Vellius Paterculus at LacusCurtius (Bill Thayer)
• Josephus at Perseus

Timeline at livius.org (Jona Lendering).

a neat website about strabo the geographer by sarah pothecary

Strabo the Geographer

"[This map], representing Strabo’s conceptualisation of the northern hemisphere, was drawn by P.F.J. Gossellin in 1805-19, to accompany the French translation of Strabo’s Geography by Laporte du Theil, Korais and Letronne, undertaken at the request of the emperor Napoleon."

Don't miss the link ‘Globalisation and empire: lessons from the ancient world.’

prior post about geography of roman britain

In connection with Strabo and Pytheas, here is an older blog post which might be of interest:

roman knowledge of britain

strabo's 'geography': geographers, historians and philosophers mentioned or referenced (more)

More references to older geographers and historians referenced by Strabo, in alphabetical order (be careful with Wikipedia):

• Athenodorus Cananites  (ca. 74 BC – 7 AD)
• Artemidorus Ephesius (flourished around 100 BC)
• Ephorus (c. 400–330 BC)
• Hipparchos (c. 190 BC – c. 120 BC)
• Polybius (ca. 200–118 BC)
  Text of Histories at Perseus
• Pytheas of Massalia (4th century BC)
  The Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek, The Man Who Discovered Britain
  Review of Barry Cunliffe's Account of Pytheas, by Bingley
• Theopompus of Chios (378-ca.320)
• Tyrannion of Amisus (1st century BCE)

strabo's 'geographica': musings

Reading Strabo's Geography, I am absolutely amazed! Not only by the easy to read content and critical analyses of his sources, which latter surely were not easy to evaluate given the scientific state of the times, but also by the physical research done: imagine putting all those sources together!

No file folders, no computer to keep one's notes organized and handy, only scrolls and tablets …  ;-)

As to Homer, Strabo maybe could recite Homer verse by verse, what do you think?

first of two chats coming coming up: strabo, geographica, books 1 through 7

On Wednesday, we'll discuss Strabo's Geography, Books I through VII. A brief content description is available on Wikipedia.

• Books I and II discuss the philosophy (remember, we are in the ancient world) of geography: history and mathematics, with praise of Homer and analysis & criticism of later geographers.
• Books III through VII concern themselves with the western half of the known world.

Strabo's map

An older post,  Strabo of Amasia, gives more information. I'm reading the work online and personally prefer Perseus.

upcomig chats: geography by strabo

Our next to chats will be The Geography by Strabo. While it's available in 8 volumes at Loeb's Classical Library, it can be read online at various sites:

Strabo of Amasia (at an earlier post)

Strabo at Wikipedia (as usual, handle with care)

Reconstruction of World map according to Strabo (18 A.D.)

herodian, eye witness to history (2)

Another apropos to our upcoming discussions about How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower by Adrian Goldsworthy:

Herodian (c.170-c.240): Greek historian, author of a History of the Roman Empire.

Jona Lendering of livius.org has information:

Herodian's life is almost unknown to us, but we can reconstruct several elements of it from his History of the Roman Empire since Marcus Aurelius, which is a lively and accessible book that might also have been titled Crises in Rome, as it describes the Year of Five Emperors (193) and the Year of Six Emperors (238).

read on

The text of the History can also be found on that site: Herodian's Roman History.

Image: Alexander Severus. Marble, Roman artwork, 222–235 CE.
Capitoline Museums, Rome
Wikemedia Commons

cassius dio, eye witness to history

Cassius Dio, Roman senator of Greek descent, historian, lived from 155 (163?) to c.325 CE, and thus was eye witness to the reigns of Marcus Aurelius to Elagabulus.

This era is covered in Epitomes 72 through 80 in his Roman History.

This apropos our upcoming discussions about How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower by Adrian Goldsworthy.

Image: Bust of Marcus Aurelius (reign 161–180 CE), Glyptothek Munich
Wikemedia Commons

articles on ancient medicine, history of the ancient world

History of the Ancient World is the website for articles, videos and great resources about  Ancient History, focusing on the Ancient Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Persians, Chinese and other civilizations.

The most recent entry is Ancient Medicine, a wide ranging list of articles on the subject.   

History of the Ancient world also posts on Facebook. Lots of good stuff to download.

book chat march 2: the odes by horace

On March 2 we will return to Horace and talk about the The Odes.

Horace Translations by A.S. Kline (Poetry in Translation)
On Perseus: Conington translation

The Cambridge Companion to Horace (Cambridge Companions to Literature) / BMCR Review

Horace: A Portrait
by Alfred Noyer

Horace at Ancient/Classical History at About.com
Horace at poets.org

Suetonius: The Life of Horace

Gaius Maecenas, patron of the arts (earlier blog post)

Images: Horace's home in Venosa

There is also Horace's villa (with multiple later owners) near Lizensa, as described in in a BMCR review of The Horace's Villa Project, 1997-2003 and a website, The Horace's Villa Contents Page (difficult to navigate).

fustel de coulanges: the ancient city

In his online chat with us last night, Barry Strauss mentioned Fustel de Coulanges, The Ancient City, "one of the really great books on the Greco-Roman world – even though a lot of its ideas have proven wrong." La Cité antique (1864)

The book can be downloaded from the Internet Archive:

The ancient city : a study on the religion, laws and institutions of Greece and Rome

Or as PDF file from the McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought.

Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges (Wikpedia, handle with care)

film sense in the 'aeneid' (for jstor 'and 'arion' subscribers only)

An intriguing question: What would the Aeneid look like as a movie?

Fred Mench explores this in Arion, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Autumn, 1969), pp. 380-397:

Film Sense in "The Aeneid"
Fred Mench
Arion, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Autumn, 1969), pp. 380-397
Published by: Trustees of Boston University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20163209

The literary critic should study not only philology or comparative literature but also the techniques employed by the film maker if he wishes to appreciate those literary works that utilize a kinetic visual approach (montage, variation of viewing angle, alternation of close-up and distance shot, and the like) … Most people who think of Vergil's artistry in visual terms tend to describe him as a painter, citing, for example, the backdrop painting of the harbor scene ( 1.159-69)  … Vergil is much closer to being a film director than a painter or a dramatist. The canvas or the stage set must be presented essentially all at once … A painter or playwright can accomplish some of this in a limited way but it would be difficult to sustain.  It is this flexibility that we associate with the cinema which is a hallmark of Vergil's great epic.

Read all

'suggestions introductory to a study of the aeneid' by henry nettleship, 1875

Hat tip Terrence, via Defending Virgil:

Suggestions introductory to a study of the Aeneid
Henry Nettleship (Internet Archive)
1875 - 47 pages

as Google Book

suetonius: life of vergil

Update 1:  Terrence reminded me that virgil.org has Aelius Donatus' Life of Virgil.

Suetonius, Life of Vergil from de viris illustribus, Life of Poets.

… Seneca has said that the poet Julius Montanus used to declare that he could also have purloined some of Vergil's work, if he could also have stolen his voice, expression, and dramatic power; for the same verses sounded well when Vergil read them, which on another's lips were flat and toneless. Hardly was the "Aeneid" begun, when its repute became so great that Sextus Propertius did not hesitate to declare:

"Yield, ye Roman writers; yield, ye Greeks;
A greater than the Iliad is born."

read all at LacusCurtius

follow p. vergilius maro on twitter

VirgilTweets

Line by line in Latin and English.

Hat tip: Robert

more aeneid links

… courtesy N.S. Gill:

• Frequently Asked Questions and Basic Facts
• SOCIETY FOR THE ORAL READING OF GREEK AND LATIN LITERATURE
  read in the restored pronunciation of classical Latin
• Virgil's Aeneid: with explanatory notes
  Frieze, Henry Simmonds, 1817-1889
• Virgil
  H. R. FAIRCLOUGH, Ph.D, PROFE8SOB OF LATIN, LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVER8ITY
  AND SELDON L. BROWN, A.M., PRINCIPAL OF WELLESLET (MASS.) HIGH SCHOOL

articles and commentaries, the aeneid, at jstor

I searched JSTOR, "Aeneid" AND "Articles," and it came up with 4418 results. Most of them are chapter or subject specific, but my scanning through the first few pages brings up these general articles:

Title: Dryden's "Aeneid"
Author(s): Robert Fitzgerald
Source: Arion, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Autumn, 1963), pp. 17-31
Publisher(s): Trustees of Boston University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20162849

Title: Augustus and the "Aeneid"
Author(s): William T. Avery
Source: The Classical Journal, Vol. 52, No. 5 (Feb., 1957), pp. 225-229
Publisher(s): The Classical Association of the Middle West and South
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3295204

Title: Humor in the "Aeneid"
Author(s): Robert B. Lloyd
Source: The Classical Journal, Vol. 72, No. 3 (Feb. - Mar., 1977), pp. 250-257
Publisher(s): The Classical Association of the Middle West and South
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3296901

Title: The Aeneid as a Trilogy
Author(s): George E. Duckworth
Source: Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 88, (1957), pp. 1-10
Publisher(s): The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/283887

Title: The Lyric Genius of the "Aeneid"
Author(s): Michael C. J. Putnam
Source: Arion, Third Series, Vol. 3, No. 2/3 (Fall, 1995 - Winter, 1996), pp. 81-101
Publisher(s): Trustees of Boston University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20163574

Title: The Dullest Book of the Aeneid
Author(s): A. W. Allen
Source: The Classical Journal, Vol. 47, No. 3 (Dec., 1951), pp. 119-123
Publisher(s): The Classical Association of the Middle West and South
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3293660

Dullness and weariness, then, are not the whole of Aeneid, but they are an important part; and it seems to me that they are not the least interesting part of a poem which is by no means dull.

A couple of these were published in Arion, you might want to check your public library for copies of that periodical.